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KBR attorney Geoff Harrison shakes hands with Oregon Guard veteran Aaron St. Clair in November 2012 after jurors awarded the soldiers more than $80 million in damages.
(Motoya Nakamura / The Oregonian)

Oregon's two senators, along with Sen. Joe Manchin, D-WV, have written to Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel to point out that the meter is still running in a case brought by a set of Oregon National Guard soldiers against KBR Inc.

The case started in federal court in Portland in June 2009, when a group of Oregon soldiers sued KBR, charging that the military contractor knowingly exposed them to a toxic carcinogen while they were providing security at a water treatment plant in southern Iraq in 2009.

The company said it informed the Army Corps of Engineers and took steps to clean up the Qarmat Ali plant as soon as it realized Iraqis had left it contaminated with a chemical compound that contains hexavalent chromium, a known carcinogen.

KBR appealed, and the case is pending before the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. The last entry in the court file was a routine filing May 29.

Even though the Army Corps of Engineers hired KBR to restore the flow of Iraqi oil, and even though KBR reported to the Army Corps at Qarmat Ali and elsewhere, the Defense Department hasn't participated in the litigation. At the same time, KBR and the Army Corps have argued over who should be liable for the damages and the cost of defending the lawsuit.

KBR has argued to the Army Corps that its contract includes an indemnification clause that protects the company from liabilities it could incur while operating in a war zone. The Army Corps, however, has said KBR is responsible for the expenses associated with the Oregon case.

Wyden spokesman Tom Towslee said there was no particular trigger for the senators' letter, except "we've seen no progress."